HSBC's luck of the jaw

Passers-by who touch the teeth of this open-mouthed lion will, according to Chinese legend, enjoy good fortune. It has certainly worked for Sir John Bond, chairman of HSBC Holdings, one of the world's most profitable banks.

The lions, standing outside HSBC's new $1.2 billion headquarters at Canary Wharf, are replicas of a pair that have guarded the bank's Hong Kong headquarters since 1935.

HSBC commissioned Bronze Age Foundry, based in London's Limehouse, to produce the one-tonne replicas.

Mark Kennedy, who ran the four-month casting process, was surprised to find the originals had suffered shrapnel damage in the Second World War. "The replicas do not include the damage," he said.

And did the commission prove to be of good fortune to Bronze Age? "You'll have to ask HSBC," he says coyly.